Vlatko Ilievski (F.Y.R. Macedonia) 2nd press conference

Posted 7 May 2011 at 14:32

Vlatko is immensely popular back home, but he can rely on his very skilled background dancers too, he says. “They have been working together for seven years, some of them are even running dancing schools for children now. They know what I want from them and I won’t interfere in their work.”

People in Macedonia are virtually glued to the TV screens when the Eurovision Song Contest is aired. It’s the most popular contest in the country, 35 percent of all viewers tune in to see it, all delegation members agree.

The song Rusinka is about a Russian girl and how the person in the song doesn’t understand a word she’s saying. He just nods and says the only words he knows in Russian, that she’s beautiful. Funnily, that’s what happened to Vlatko twice too. “The song is a big plus with the Russian girls,” he’s happy to admit.

Prior to the event here in Düsseldorf, Vlatko and his band went on a pre-Eurovision tour to neighbouring countries and up to Belarus. “We hope that we’ll get some points from these countries, now that they know the song,” he says.

On a personal note, the singer says that he’s true to his beliefs: “Even if my hair’s been cut off, in my heart, I’m still a rocker.”